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Leadership gains willing obedience in working toward organizational goals. It can be learned by
understanding and developing its characteristics: psychology, integrity, personality, and others.
Human relations skill ranks highly among these characteristics because it supports critical
leadership tasks such as praising and disciplining employees. Each style of leadership has strengths
and weaknesses. Proven techniques can help to avoid common stumbling blocks.
Chapter Objectives:
Lecture Outline:
Activities
Test: Have students answer questions at the end of the chapter, time permitting
Assignments
Assignment #1: Leadership Styles. Individual Assignment
For each of the following people, choose the term you think best describes their leadership style:
Autocratic, Democratic, Free-Rein. Justify your choice.
1. What Readiness level do the officers appear to have? What is there Ability, and what
is their Willingness?
2. What Leadership behavior should their supervisor use? How much Task Behavior?
How much Relationship behavior?
1. What actions did supervisors take in each of these situations? If that is not clear,
speculate as to what actions you think the supervisors took. What leadership
characteristics do those actions display?
2. List some common mistakes supervisors might make in those situations. What
leadership characteristics would be lacking with those actions?
3. Have the class give examples of positive actions the supervisors might take. What
leadership characteristics are needed to support those actions?
1. Autocratic leader: highly authoritative, makes decisions alone with no input and
subordinates often do not feel part of the team, never lets anyone forget who is the boss,
rules through fear, intimidation, and threat. This style works best in emergencies.
Democratic or participatory leader: seeks ideas and suggestions from subordinates,
works with employees not over employees, keenly aware of the human factor and as a
result, gets better performance from subordinates.
Free-rein or laissez-faire leader: exercises a minimum of control, seldom gives
subordinates the attention or help they need, usually doesn’t work well and is usually
concerned about being liked by employees.
2. Command presence is the natural manner of an individual indicating a complete command
of their mental and physical faculties and emotions. It encompasses the qualities of dignity,
self-assurance, and poise. It is that outward appearance that denotes that the person has the
ability and qualifications to take command of any situation. When leaders have command
presence, they remain cool, calm, and collected in the face of conflict and exert confidence
and self- control while handling a crisis. It is often said that command presence is best
reflected by leaders who look calmer and calmer as things get worse and worse. The
leader’s attitude quickly permeates a group. If they display anxiety, the group members
will develop it and will not perform well in this atmosphere of anxiety and tension.
3. Ideally, every leader should possess the following traits:
Friendliness, sincerity, affection for others, and personal warmth. A long face should
be seldom (if ever) the face of the leader; neither should a pessimistic or negative attitude.
A sincere expression of pleasure when a greeting is indicated, especially to a subordinate,
has inestimable value. A person’s birthday, a promotion, a wedding, or the birth of a child
are some of the big events in life. A warm, sincere handclasp or a word of congratulation
takes little time and is worth every moment it takes in these and similar cases.
Enthusiasm for the job and all it entails. Sincerity and the ability to display it are vital
traits of the leader. Zeal to do the right thing and to get the job done is extremely contagious
and is quickly felt by others.
Ambition. Within reason, ambition is desirable; however, it must be controlled, or it can
become a millstone around the supervisor’s neck. It should never result in the taking of
credit belonging to another. Neither should selfishness and vanity be allowed to corrode
the supervisor’s career.
Energy and vitality. Being a leader requires much physical stamina and a high frustration
tolerance. Good leadership and hard work seem to go hand in hand. Diligence and industry
are essential to effective leadership.
Moral and physical integrity. Real leaders have moral as well as physical courage. They
have a sense of direction and purpose, with clear goals in mind. They take personal
responsibility. They know where they want to go and what they want to do. They do not
make promises; they do not intend to keep because their word is their bond. It is more
important that they are trusted and respected than liked. Subordinates expect their leaders
to be honorable, to know right from wrong and justice from injustice, and to be fair to all
without prejudice. A leader is expected to pursue the truth at all times. They are expected
to keep their personal and professional life above reproach and, by their conduct, to be a
credit to those in the organization and profession. “Our values—the core beliefs that drive
our behavior—determine our character, our ethics, and our potential as a leader.”
Intelligence. It has been shown that successful leaders almost invariably have more
intelligence than those they lead. They have a sense of imagination and humor. They are
capable of making objective observations. They have a questioning attitude that helps them
in their search for the truth in all matters. They have vision and insight, for without them,
they will fail as a leader. They have a highly developed ability to see all sides of a question
and draw commonsense conclusions from the evidence at hand.
Technical skill. Most successful leaders have a technical mastery of the job, including the
teaching skill, which often takes the place of order giving, but leadership proficiency is not
dependent on technical ability to do the job itself. Supervisors can be highly successful if
they have a reasonable understanding of what the job requires and have a mastery of the
leadership abilities necessary for getting it done.
Faith. Leaders have faith and confidence in themselves and their subordinates. Employees
will seldom have confidence in an individual who has no confidence in himself.
Verbal Aptitude. A large amount of experimental work supports the conclusion that the
most successful leaders are verbally capable. They are persuasive and tactful. Few
attributes are more important in dealing with others without generating friction.
Courtesy. Common courtesy demands that politeness is an activity that must be practiced
at all times.
Modesty. Real leaders can afford to be modest and practice humility. Their
accomplishments will attest to their value without them constantly reminding others of
their greatness.
4. The objective of good human relations should be the greatest production in the shortest
possible time with the minimum energy and the maximum satisfaction for the producers.
5. The supervisor should follow the adage, “Commend in public but criticize in private.”
Criticism, like commendation, should not be neglected when it is indicated. It can be
constructive or destructive, depending on the manner employed in dispensing it. One of
the most frequent complaints of workers is that criticism comes readily but praise seldom.
Complimenting or giving praise when it is not merited, however, soon dilutes its value and
is seldom effective. Likewise, insincere commendation soon loses its motivating effect.
6. Using indistinct speech or poor word selection, giving orders in a disordered or
haphazard manner, giving too many orders at one time or too much detail in one order
(assuming that the receivers understand clearly what is expected of them), and neglecting
to follow up are some of the most prevalent reasons for failures in order giving.
7. Direct commands: Orders may best be given by command when emergent conditions
require direct, prompt action.
Requests: Most orders should be framed as requests. Employees will often resent an
authoritarian, dictatorial method. The capable, conscientious, responsible subordinate
usually requires nothing more than a request.
Implied or suggested orders: Implied or suggested directives can be employed to good
effect with the reliable employee who readily assumes responsibility for a task
Requests for volunteers: The call for volunteers should be used with care so that it will
not become a simple expedient for escaping the responsibility of making assignments or
issuing orders that are in the best interests of the organization.
8. The decision-making process involves several steps. First, there must be an awareness that
a real problem exists. An appreciation of its ramifications and recognition of a need for a
decision must be present. The proper answer to the wrong question is no solution to the
real problem. To deal with an apparent problem without knowing that it is merely a
symptom of the real one may result in an incorrect solution to the right problem or an
inappropriate solution to the wrong one. Second, facts must be obtained. Opinions of others
may be needed as supportive data when subjective decisions are involved. Third, when
sufficient data have been collected, they must be evaluated and analyzed. Reliability of the
source of the data must be tested, just as the facts themselves are. Once the real problem
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En sortant du Campo Santo, nous vîmes s’avancer, marchant en
bon ordre, de longues files d’hommes habillés de gris. Je pensai à
des équipes de forçats commandés pour la corvée des routes. Ils
portaient des blouses de toile et des pantalons rapiécés, de
grossières espadrilles laissant voir leurs pieds nus, et ils étaient
coiffés de méchants bonnets de police. Un coup de clairon m’apprit
que j’avais en face de moi la troupe. C’étaient, en effet, deux
compagnies d’infanterie garnisonnées à Estella qui partaient pour la
manœuvre. On les accoutre ainsi par économie, afin de ménager la
tenue de drap réservée pour les grandes occasions. Pauvreté n’est
pas vice, et l’économie est une belle chose, mais je doute que des
fantassins ainsi affublés se sentent fiers d’être soldats.
Je recommande ce costume à nos niveleurs économes qui
réclament à grands cris l’unification de l’uniforme militaire, ainsi
qu’aux intelligents champions de la suppression des armées
permanentes ; ils ne pourront mieux dégoûter la jeunesse du métier
de Mars. Le nec plus ultra du misérable et du bon marché sera d’un
seul coup atteint.
L’aspect de ces fantassins, petits et grêles, ne rappelle guère
cette redoutable infanterie espagnole « dont les gros bataillons
serrés, dit Bossuet, semblables à autant de tours, mais à des tours
qui sauraient réparer leurs brèches, demeuraient inébranlables au
milieu de tout le reste en déroute… » Certes, je ne mets pas un seul
instant en doute leur énergie et leur vaillance, je ne parle que de
l’extérieur, et il ne paye pas de mine. Il est vrai que leur uniforme, qui
semble une copie maladroite du nôtre, n’est pas de nature à la
rehausser. A Gibraltar surtout, à côté des superbes et corrects
soldats anglais, cette apparence défectueuse d’une armée mal
accoutrée, mal payée et mal nourrie, frappe l’œil désintéressé de
l’étranger.
C’est à Estella que je fus, pour la première fois, réveillé en
sursaut par une voix lamentable. Elle jetait par intervalles, des
profondeurs d’une rue voisine, des modulations prolongées et
lugubres qui approchaient grandissant, éclataient sous mes fenêtres,
puis s’éloignaient et retournaient se perdre dans la nuit.
Ce sont les serenos, gardes de nuit, qui crient le temps et l’heure
en commençant par une invocation à la Vierge : « Ave Maria
sanctissima ! Il est minuit. Le temps est serein ! » Ce chant nocturne,
car il est rythmé comme tous les cris de rue, restant de vieilles
coutumes générales dans presque toute l’Europe, ne manque pas
d’originalité. L’usage, il n’y a pas longtemps encore, existait chez
nous dans nombre de villes de province. A Douai, il y a dix ou quinze
ans, un homme criait les heures au beffroi. Mais c’est surtout au
siècle dernier que le veilleur de nuit offrait un aspect fantastique.
Vêtu d’une longue robe brune, bigarrée de têtes de mort et de tibias
en sautoir, il passait à pas lents, agitant une cloche et criant d’une
voix sépulcrale :